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I think a good metric for "advanced/senior programmer" is "writes reasonably clean code from the start". Not perfectly clean, but reasonably well-architected--a
by cname 10y ago
I think a good metric for "advanced/senior programmer" is "writes reasonably clean code from the start". Not perfectly clean, but reasonably well-architected--at least easy to read and change. At a certain point, there's really no good excuse for starting out with a big ball of mud.
- ianbicking 10y agoThis is a reasonable expectation when writing something the developer understands and has experience with, with an architecture that seems self-evident early on. Lots of problems are like this. But when I see developers with the self-expectation of clean code take on a task where the architecture is not self-evident, where the architecture probably won't be right the first time, then they often freeze up. Or they move their efforts into the abstractions they do understand, instead of the task they are trying to accomplish.
- cname 10y agoI've definitely been there fiddling around with abstractions or whatever. I guess I think you're really starting to get good when you see yourself doing that kind of thing and make yourself stop and figure out what the real goal is and how to proceed. E.g., maybe stop banging on the keyboard and draw a picture, work through an example, talk to the client, etc.